Philosophy is riddled with abstractions. One such abstract element is something I’ve touched on the corners of, yet haven’t fully wrapped my mind around. This is the individual essence. Not merely your “soul” but the flavor of who you are that is attached to everything you do. Personality is a highly dumbed-down term for what this is.

Throughout my travels, the most miserable people I’ve ever known have been the successful and wannabe-successful. Some of whom I’ve met since coming to Los Angeles in early 2014. By contrast, the happiest people I’ve met have lived modest lives in Southeast Asian countries or even poorer parts of Europe.

As a preface, understand that America has some of the best scenery and nicest smaller towns in the world. It also provides maybe the most amount of geographic options within a single country. Finally, it’s the greatest place I can think of to do business. All that being said, as a world traveler I find there are many reasons to leave America and become an expat due to cultural issues. I will list them here.

Literal slavery is a horrible practice that still persists into the modern age. But, I want to talk about another form of human exploitation–employment slavery, which can also ruin a person’s life. Generally, I consider this a self-inflicted slavery because it’s ultimately a person’s choice to work under such conditions—but I also understand that brainwashing can occur, creating the illusion that there’s no way out.

Trying to make sense of the world can be difficult, especially when you realize how backwards people’s priorities are.

If you live and breathe in Western culture, I promise that you are being subjected to a socially constructed myth that you’re either “working and paying your dues”, or you’re “being lazy”. There’s no in-between. Enjoyment is greedy, work is good.

Here’s an interesting dynamic: people always celebrate and party when they feel good. They get some new job or promotion, they win something, it’s someones birthday, or some other event comes out of the blue which energizes everybody. That’s usually when people get together and have a good time.

The other 80-90% of the time–when we feel like shit–we tend to just stay at home. This is when crises, hardship, problems, anxieties, traumas, grief, loss, and everything else which often accompanies life on Earth plagues us, and we can’t think about anything except our specific problems. We just sit around, worry about the future, and stress about what to do next.Continue Reading